Baby Workout

I've had enough children to know what the Dr. is going to say at the 4 mo. well baby check-up, "Needs more tummy time!" The big problem is, is that to give Caleb any floor time puts his life in peril. :) His older siblings would LOVE him to death with such easy access. Today, though, some rare circumstance came together where I could put Caleb on the floor in safety. One - we were home! Two - all the older kids were in their quiet times, and three - Caleb was awake when the others were asleep.

I was shocked how far Caleb is in his development already. I'm sure it's time for him to be doing all these things. But, largely, he still gets treated like he was treated 4 mo. ago. A newborn. So it was surprising to see him trying to roll over and getting so close!

With all this trying to roll over, he keep moving in a circle, he loved his new freedom!
I helped him, just a little to roll over. I thought he would object right away to this foreign position.
But he liked it for quite awhile. :)
He's also almost sitting up. He loves to sit on one leg and be propped up by the other. Momma gets tired of sitting like this before Caleb does. So there ya go. A workout fit for a baby. :)

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Saturday was a wonderful day for us. It's Maple Syrup season and the sap is running! So yesterday some families from our homeschool group, and us, went to Uncle Tom's Cabin. Really, it's Mike's uncle and his name is Tom.
Uncle Tom showed us how to tap the trees and then when you have sap, how to boil it down to syrup and then all the purifying one needs to do so it's not gritty. But the fun didn't end there! There was a hay rack ride!
An Easter Egg Hunt! We also had Maple Syrup Sundaes after lunch. They were very yummy. :)
And then the kids alternated between warming up inside and playing in the woods outside. It seems like everyone had a lot of fun. It was wonderful to chat with some homeschooling Moms that I hadn't talked with yet and to also see all the husbands. I love seeing both the Moms and Dads so committed to their children.
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Lastly, it's hard for me to be light hearted in these days of my friends great agony. The fact that her child has fallen so ill again has tested my faith in ways that I didn't know it needed testing.

After her child was healed before his birth I thought that I had seen a true, real live, no strings attached miracle. I believed completely that I had been so blessed to see a supernatural, doctor befuddling miracle. Now to see that he was not healed but merely "fixed" for awhile has been heart breaking for me. This testing of my faith is stressful because I don't have a lot of time to study and ruminate in His Word. :)

The Lord has been using the one venue that I seem to be able to consisitently attend. Which is church. Pastor Joel has been having the congregation repeat, "God is bigger than my problems, God is working. " (or something like that) Which has been balm on my wounds. I may not understand what's going on with Stellan, but God intimately and completely understands and is working towards the end that is best. Thank you Lord. The other nugget that I took away from this morning is the following verse,

^{Daniel 9:19} O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name."

Stellan situation bears His Name. From the VERY beginning his parents have yelled from the mountain tops that they trust and believe in the Lord. So my prayer is this verse. That the Lord would not tary or delay. That Stellan's healing would be swift and sure. That His power and loving mercy would be on display for everyone to see.

Please pray...

Tidbits

We have a devotional time each morning before as the start to our school day. I have a fabulous, short reading that I go through each morning, and then we pray. As with most siblings, it's always a competition to see who will get to pray 1st and so many months ago I had instituted the rule that Sofie gets to go 1st one day, and then John the next. Unfortunately on Monday I couldn't remember who had gone 1st on Friday. Ugh, I'm sure you can guess everyone's answer to my question, "I get to go first!"

Well, so I told them that I truly didn't remember and so someone was going to have to be unselfish and let the other one go first. You could've heard crickets chirping, they just both looked expectantly at each other, waiting for the other to give in. So I ratcheted up the pressure a little more. "Alright, who's it going to be? Who is going to be unselfish? Who wants to make Jesus happy?" More crickets... So then I decided to go all the way and asked, "Alright, Jesus- the Holy Spirit is talking to one of your hearts right now, saying to let the other person go, who is it? Who is Jesus talking to and telling you to let the other person go?!" John sheepishly raises his hand half way, "He's talkin' to mine, Mom." and he grins this sheepish little grin. That boy is so precious!!!

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Sofie is off to Cahill School this morning. It's a one room school house experience that, I guess, most of the kids in our area get to do during there elementary years. She was VERY excited and couldn't wait. The report back from her Grandma (who took her) was that she was a little overwhelmed when they got there. But there were some homeschooling friends there to help with the newness of it all. Her Grandma offered her some "pocket" money for the whole experience and she was so overwhelmed that she just said, "No thanks Grandma..." She must really be out of her element to refuse some cold hard cash!!

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We have had a HUGE week this week with outings and playdates, appointments and reservations. We've been gone so much that the kids haven't even been able to properly trash the house since I cleaned it so thoroughly on Tuesday. This has also meant precious little time for naps. So when I went to find Lilia for Supper one night this is what I found. Poor girl, she is still just a baby herself.

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Lastly please pray fervently for my friend. I'm just heartbroken over her struggles with her sick baby. He was born just a month before Caleb. I can't imagine Caleb being so sick. Please pray continously for this precious babe.

Putting on the Full Armor of God

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my curriculum (if your wondering what it is... heartofdakota.com ) We have been making our way through early American History this year. We've reached the Revolutionary War these past few days. So today, since we've been reading about war and fighting all week, we spent time talking about the Armor of God in Ephesians 6. Then, to drive the point home, we were instructed to dress up a stuffed animal with the Armor of God. Ruthie was a shoo-in for the job. The kids LOVED it.
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Lastly a picture of Caleb. I can not get enough of this baby!!!

Wordless Wednesday

The many faces of John...

My Front Door

My front door is OPEN!!! This means a.) The sun is shining and I can't bear to stare at that closed dark door any longer, and b.) In keeping with fickle frozen tundra weather, it is unseasonably warm here. So I'm not freezing my children or spiking the heating bill by indulging in some bright afternoon sun.
The kids have been taking full advantage of the nice weather and have been spending their afternoons playing, outside. Woo Hoo!!! (Now if I can just keep them off the grass... It's SO muddy out there!!)

The kids are a little rusty with their biking skills, but before long they will be confident enough for us to go on a nice family ride.
The kids have been re-discovering their outside toys that they haven't played with all winter!It's funny to see the kids outside, complaining their coats are making them too warm. All while standing beside a snowdrift...Enterprising Lilia decided there were easier ways of getting her "bike" to move than actually riding it.And lest we all get too accustomed to this nice weather, let me draw your attention to how it looked in March 2007...

Wordless Wednesday

So Beautiful

Lilia just cracks me up. I was getting ready this morning and she wanders in. She starts handing me my clothes and says:

"Try dis one!!!" (try this one) So I put on what she's handing me...

"Ohhhhh!! Beuweeeful Momma! Dat's so Beuweeeful!" (Oh! Beautiful Mom! That's so beautiful!) Then she wanders off, but comes right back and pops her head in the bathroom, "I mean it Momma! So pity!!!" ( I mean it Mom! So pretty!)

What a great start to my day. :)

'Tis the Season!

Nope, not Christmas. In the Wolfe family we have the Birthday Season. It's the time of year, right after Christmas, when all the kids birthdays start to arrive. This week it was Isabelle's birthday. Her Mom had a cute Rainbow themed party for her tonight. A fun time was had by all.

The night started off with a rousing balloon bounce. (Truly, all kids need to be entertained are some balloons and a cardboard box, preferably the refrigerator sized)

Then after some yummy pizza there was the gift opening.
Gpa, Lilia, and Caleb were especially enthralled with this part. :)Then of course, the rainbow cake, complete with handmade decorations by Isabelle. Lastly a photo-op wall for some great pictures:

Here are some of the cousins, it's hard to get ALL of them in one picture anymore!
Can they be any cuter!!!

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Wordless Wednesday

Well kind of... more of the un-eventful everyday existence at our house. One guess what Mike is doing here...

Happy Birthday to You!

I can't believe it but Caleb is 3 months old today! I told Sofie this morning that 3 months ago we were in the hospital having Caleb and she said, "No Mom! 3 YEARS ago!" It does seem like he's been here the whole time. Yet, some days I'm still shocked and excited that I'm not pregnant anymore.

He's just growing so fast! (Literally) He gets so excited to see his sisters and brother. Those arms and legs just a whirl and jive when any of them are around. He has just discovered his hands and has started to reach and (try) to grab anything in close proximity. He's been sleeping through the night these last couple of weeks and is turning out to be a really easy baby. For example, before writing this blog post I laid him down for his nap in his bassinet. Fully awake. He fussed for just a couple of minutes. Truly, just fussing, no actual wail or cry. And now he's asleep. Man, if all my babies were like this... :)